HP and the Search For Laurel
by Celtic Ember
Summary: *This story has been abandoned* AU, PRE OoTP It's the summer after Harry's fifth year, and odd things are happening. Harry and the crew go on a search for his missing Aunt. Sequel to Return From The Plains Of Misery.
1. Finally Escaping

A/N- Well, I said I wouldn't, and I wasn't going to. This story just smacked me across the head. So, here it is. The long awaited (?) Sequel to HP and the Return from the Plains of Misery. This one will be longer then that one, I think. If you haven't read it, I would advise you to do so before reading this one. That's all for now.  
  
  
  
Harry James Potter looked at the train station, happily contemplating that for once, he was not heading back to Private Drive for his summer holidays. At least, not for all or even most of them. Harry had to stay there for all of three days, while his parents and Dumbledore finished setting up the wards on the house that the Potters purchased after the end of the school year. It would be interesting to see the look on the Dursley's faces when his mother and father came to pick him up. No one had told them that Dumbledore had discovered the cure for Avada Kedavra, so they still believed Harry to be their responsibility. Sure enough, as he bade his friends goodbye, he could see Aunt Petunia waiting for him. Somehow, she didn't seem her normal abrasive self. Her watery blue eyes were slightly puffy, as if she had been crying recently. Harry shook his head. Aunt Petunia only cried when Dudley was being a prat, and he wouldn't be home from Smeltings for another week. When he met her on the other side of the platform, her voice was as shrill as it always was.  
  
"It's about time! I've been waiting for you for twenty minutes already! Doesn't your kind set any store in punctuality? I have to have dinner ready in an hour, and it will take half that to get home. Come on!" She turned, and her wispy blonde hair shifted to expose a large purple bruise on her neck.  
  
"What happened?" Harry blurted before he could stop himself.  
  
"Nothing. And don't ask questions!" She barked, hastily covering her neck with a decorative scarf and wincing when she accidentally pulled it a little too tight. Harry figured this wasn't the time to tell her that he now had special permission to use magic outside of school, since many of Voldemort's supporters were now on the run. Harry and several others had defeated him at the beginning of the year, but his followers didn't seem to realize that. It seemed that Lucius Malfoy, utterly unknowing of his own offspring's part in defeating the dark lord, made the decision to replace him. He was still commanding the Death Eaters, and so it was decided that Harry would be allowed to practice his magic to better defend himself when he needed to.  
  
Aunt Petunia didn't say a word to him on the drive back. She chewed on her tongue and said nothing. Finally, when they pulled up to the house, she looked at him again.  
  
"You look so much like your parents." She whispered, keeping her voice soft. Harry looked at her, wide eyed. She shook her head, and went inside. Harry lugged his trunk up to his room. He didn't bother unpacking. He knew he was going to be leaving again soon anyway. He heard Uncle Vernon come in, bellowing for his dinner. Harry stayed upstairs, he had eaten on the train and wasn't really hungry.  
  
"Did you go and get the boy?" he heard Vernon ask.  
  
"No, no, of course not. You told me not to. Why would I?" He heard his aunt respond, her voice high.  
  
"I don't believe you! You sound exactly like you used to when I asked you if you'd been visiting your sister. I'm checking Dudley's second room!"  
  
Harry noticed in the split second before he dove into his trunk for his invisibility cloak that Vernon hadn't even called it his room.  
  
He scrabbled in the trunk for his cloak, and he heard Vernon's steps come thudding closer. Rapidly, he donned the large garment, and as he heard his uncle reach the top of the stairs, he realized his trunk! It was obvious evidence.  
  
It was too late. The door swung open and beady eyes swung around the room. Not seeing the person he was looking for, the purple face began to recede. The door began to close, and Harry, relieved, began to move across the room. The door swung open again, and Harry froze. For a second his heart caught in his throat, he was standing in the middle of the room. If Vernon came barrelling in, there was no doubt that he would run into him. The bulgy man let out a bellow of rage when his eyes rested on the trunk in the corner, and then ran out of the room. Petunia heard her husband bellow, and was nervously waiting at the bottom of the stairs.  
  
Harry heard the 'smack' even from his bedroom. He then heard the yelling.  
  
"I told you I would not have that freak back inside this house! He is a danger to Dudley!" Another smack.  
  
"He is my sister's son! Is it not enough that you forced me to give up my baby sister for adoption when you found out what she was? Harry is all I have left of my family! I will not give him up." Harry heard her whimper as Vernon slapped her yet again. Listening to the row downstairs, he figured that he probably should go to his new house right away. He didn't know that Petunia had fought to keep him. And what was this about a baby sister? First things first, though, he knew he had to defend his Aunt. He took his wand out from its hidden pocket, and reflected that it seemed he really didn't know her at all.  
  
He went down the stairs, still covered by his cloak, and noticed that she was now sporting a large purple bruise on her cheek, and another one around her eye. Harry waited, it seemed that the fight was petering out. Vernon stomped out of the house, and Harry removed his cloak. He saw his aunt, weeping, on the stairs.  
  
"Come on, Aunt Petunia. We're leaving. You don't have to put up with that great bullying git anymore. I have a place for us to go. It's not quite ready yet, which is why I cam here, but It will have to do. And there are some people there I think you might like to meet." The disfigured face looked at him.  
  
"Why would I want to leave? I have Dudley here. My family is here. You are my sister's child. I feel nothing but obligation toward you. If you have somewhere else to go, I suggest you do so." She looked miserable, but Harry wasn't about to argue with her. His mother could come and take care of her.  
  
He nodded at her, and then turned. She passed him on the stairs, and he called out her.  
  
"Aunt Petunia?" She turned around, the swelling on her face more obvious in the better light. "Do you want me to do something about those bruises?" She looked at him, a curious expression in her eyes.  
  
"Can you? I mean without getting into trouble." Harry nodded.  
  
"I was given special permission, since I helped defeat the Wizard that banished my parents."  
  
"He was still around? I though that he was some crackpot!" Then the full import of Harry's words hit her.  
  
"You mean killed your parents, don't you?" She asked, her voice hard. For a moment, Harry was tempted to bark 'Don't ask questions' at her, but since she had gone against Vernon for him it didn't seem quite fair.  
  
"No. Until the beginning of the year, I thought so. But apparently they were banished to the Plains of Misery instead. Dumbledore brought them back. That's my other plans. I'm going to live with my parents." She surprised him then, and pulled him into a hug.  
  
"I'm sorry, Harry. There isn't much more that I can say. I'm so sorry. Go, enjoy what's left of your childhood. I may come visit. But please leave before Vernon comes home."  
  
Harry nodded, unloaded his broomstick, bewitched his trunk to be feather light, and then bound it to the broomstick. He put on his cloak, and made sure that it covered everything.  
  
"We'll keep in touch, Aunt Petunia. I promise." He said. And then, he cast a trunk in the corner of the room, and told her to open it. She looked frightened, still extremely wary of magic, but did as he bid her. When she opened it up, it had all sorts of normal Muggle candy, a few new outfits for Dudley, and a small bag of green powder. She looked at him questioningly.  
  
"Why?" Was all she asked. Harry understood anyway.  
  
"Vernon and Dudley's memories will be wiped of all knowledge of me. Yours will not. Take the powder and cast it into the fire if you need to talk to me, mom, or anyone else in my world. Say their name into the fire, and we'll answer as soon as we can. Any side effects are normal, so don't worry, all right?" He still disliked the woman, but he didn't want to leave her completely defenceless against the oaf that she married.  
  
"You can feed the sweets to Dudley. Tell Vernon that you've noticed that Dudley loses more weight when he isn't tempted to disobey. They're enchanted to remove three pounds for each one that he eats. The new clothes are for the end of the summer, when he'll resemble something other then a baby rhino. Remind Vernon of the argument that you had with Dudley last hols when he wanted my trunk. Tell him that you got this one for him. He should have absolutely no trouble believing that. Got it?" Petunia nodded, and pocketed the powder. She watched as Harry mounted his broomstick, which was now hovering three feet off the floor. She let out a little gasp when he covered himself with it, and then he was gone. She turned and went downstairs, bruises fading fast thanks to a few gentle pokes of her nephew's wand, and contemplated her future.  
  
A/N- Please don't forget to review! I'll post the next chapter in three days or at five reviews, whichever comes first! 


	2. Better Times

A/N- Well, here it is! Not much to say here. Enjoy the chapter!  
  
  
  
Disclaimer: THESE ARE ALL MINE! MINE I TELL YOU! NO ONE ELSES! All right, all right. Standard. Recognizable belongs to J.K., ect, ect.  
  
Harry sailed over Surrey on his broomstick, loving the feel of the wind in his hair. He couldn't just let himself go the way he normally did, though. His thoughts were wandering back to Privet Drive, where his Aunt was waiting for the giant git otherwise known as Vernon Dursley. He replayed the argument between his aunt and uncle in his head. Gave up for adoption? His mother and Petunia had been eleven months apart, so there was no way that she was talking about his mother. Who then? He would have to ask when he got home.  
  
He stopped for a short break, landing in a field that was far away from prying eyes and Muggles alike. There was no way that he wanted to go anywhere near any inhabited area, as he was far to likely to catch the attention of all the people he wanted to avoid. The day was warm, and his cloak was making him sweat. He removed it and settled himself down into the sweet smelling grass, noticing the lilies growing wild on the field. He couldn't see those flowers without thinking of his mother. Not surprisingly, his mother reminded him of his aunt, and he once again began to ponder. His mother had never mentioned a baby sister. She had talked about Petunia with regret and occasionally derision, but if there had been any other siblings Harry hadn't heard. With a sigh, he got up and dusted himself off. He really shouldn't stay in any one place more then he had to, since it increased the chance of someone finding him. He slipped the cloak with it's watery folds on and cast the invisibility charm on his trunk to refresh it, and took off again.  
  
It was nearing dark when he reached the new house his parents had purchased. He watched as his mother came out onto the second floor balcony, looking out into the gathering shadows.  
  
"Guys! It's time to head in now, Crimson has supper ready!" He heard her call. She looked like she was a mere sixteen, but in reality, she was thirty-four. Her body may have stayed twenty-one, but the time spent in the Plains Of Misery had aged her spirit. The haunting green eyes that Harry had inherited were older and wiser then they once were. As he landed, he saw his father, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin come trooping in from the forest around the front of the house. Sirius transformed without warning, and sniffed the air. He barked and became human again.  
  
"Harry James Potter, I can not believe you! Get out from under that cloak and come inside." Harry slowly, carefully pulled it off, and looked guiltily at the three angry men in front of him. The he remembered that he had nothing to feel guilty for. Just as things started to look bad, James turned to him. He said one word, and it came out tight and controlled. Harry knew the tone, he had used it himself when he was trying desperately to control his sometimes volatile temper.  
  
"Explain." Harry looked at angry blue eyes and gulped. The whole story came gushing forth, and soon his parent and pseudo parents looked appeased. They weren't, but they were no longer angry at him. They brought him inside, and the whole story had to be explained again to his shocked mother and godmother. During it all, Harry completely forgot about his missing aunt. He didn't remember while eating an incredibly delicious supper and listening to joked and cracks at the table. Only one conversation turned sober.  
  
"Hey, do you guys remember grad?" Crimson asked, hyper on her three cups of chocolate coffee.  
  
"How could we not? Seeing as the Cerise Unicorns decided to turn our hair as red as their own in the middle of our valedictory address." Lily smiled at the memory as James and Sirius flinched.  
  
"No, I was thinking more of the people voted most likely." Crimson grinned again. "I never thought of how accurate it would be. Although I doubt that anyone would have figured on their little prophesies coming true. Look at us. We are all living in the same house, Lily and James were the first to marry. It came true."  
  
"I'll tell you one thing that also came true. The small, inconsequential little fact that I was voted most likely to end up in Azkaban." Sirius said with a grimace.  
  
The others looked a bit sheepish, but no one said anything as they remembered back to their graduation ceremony.  
  
"Now, the part that everyone has been waiting for. I turn the stage over to Mr. Gilderoy Lockhardt!" Dumbledore smiled at the groans that were echoing at the announcement that the egomaniac of the entire school would be doing the presentations. For a fifth year, he was amazingly annoying.  
  
"Yes, well, thank you for your applause. I know you all love me. Now, we'll start with the award for most hearts broken! Besides me, of course." He waited half a beat, looked at his sheet, and announced "We have a three way tie, folks! It seems to be split between Sirius Black of Gryffindor, Remus Lupin of Gryffindor, and Colin Davies of Slytherin!" Remus, Sirius and Colin stood up, bowed, and sat down again as little statues appeared on their table. The awards went on, and on, and on. Remus won 'most mysterious', James and Lily won 'Least likely couple,' 'Cutest couple' and 'couple most likely to put the first child of our generation into Hogwarts' along with 'couple most likely to be found in a broom cupboard'. The Marauders won a special award, 'Most pranks played in school history', and James and Sirius co-won for 'Most Detentions Ever Served'. Lily won 'Most likely to gain an Order of Merlin', Crimson won with Sirius for 'Most outrageous couple' 'Pranksters of the Year' and several others, and she clinched the 'Fastest Temper' and 'Best Revenge' titles with only a little competition from Lily and a Ravenclaw. All together, there was at least one award for all of them. Everyone had laughed when Sirius had stood up and bowed at 'Most likely to end up in Azkaban for something totally stupid' (Jeffery and Millicent Lestrange had 'Most likely to end up in Azkaban, period'). Peter had won 'Most Forgetful' along with 'Most Surprising Sorting' (his mother had been a Slytherin and his father had gone to Durmstrang).  
  
Harry cleared his throat, and his parents and godparents were cleared from their reveries. As his mother tossed her hair over her shoulder, he remembered what his aunt had said about a baby sister. He tried to figure out a way to broach the subject, and then posed his question.  
  
  
  
A/N- Like it? Hate it? Then why not leave a review and let me know what you think! 


	3. Family Secrets

A/N- Here it is, chapter 3! I do hope you like it.  
  
  
  
"Mom, when Aunt Petunia was fighting, she mentioned a baby sister that she had to give up for adoption. What did she mean? I thought that you two were the only children."  
  
He regretted his question almost instantly at the look of rage and sorrow on his mothers face.  
  
"She hasn't told you, then?" She asked, as if she wanted to be very sure of her facts before letting the smallest bit of information slip.  
  
"Told me WHAT?" He asked, clearly irritated at the delay. If he was going to upset her, she may as well tell him.  
  
"That you have an aunt you've never met along with an uncle that was killed two years before you were born." Lily replied in a deadly calm voice. James looked at their dinner companions, and he nodded. Everyone except for Lily and Harry left the room, to give mother and son some privacy while she began to relate the sordid tale of Harry's family past.  
  
Harry looked at his mother in amazement, and soon realized that this was going to take time and patience. She began to speak, in a voice that was barely above a whisper.  
  
"You've noticed how both Petunia and I have flower names." Harry nodded, though it wasn't a question.  
  
"We all did. Pet was the oldest. She loved to lord that over us. Clover was my older brother, the only one besides Dad that didn't reject me the instant my letter came. My mother was a squib, I guess she was hoping that she wouldn't have any magical children. I didn't find that out until my father sat me down and told me. All through school, I thought that I was a Muggle born. Then my baby sister was born. At Christmas break in my fifth year, I came home to find out that my mother was having a baby. I had gone with Crimson and your father on an exchange trip that summer, we went to see the Salem Academy of Sorcerers. I didn't know that Mother was pregnant until no one met me at the Hogwarts Express, and I had to take a Muggle taxi to get home. There was a hastily scrawled note on the table, asking Clover to come pick me up when he got home from baseball practice. Apparently he hadn't come home. I found out later he had been killed by the killing curse after he refused to tell a Death Eater whom he was picking up. Since he and I looked like twins, it was a pretty easy guess to know they were after me. I wasn't paying attention to that then, however. All I knew was that Mother and Dad were missing. Petunia had married Vernon that fall, making sure that I wasn't home for it. She didn't want me to ruin her wedding, and since I hated her as much as she hated me, I didn't mind much.  
  
Daddy called to tell me that I had a little sister just a little past midnight. It was a very surreal feeling to find out that I had a new sibling when I didn't even know that my mother had been pregnant. Daddy came home right after, and he told me. Then he looked at me, and smiled. 'Laurel's just like you, Lily.' He said. I thought that he meant that she looked just like me- and she did, she could have been my clone- but when I looked into his eyes, I could see that he meant JUST like me- magical. A witch. He could tell by the color of her eyes. Apparently, in our family, the only people with green eyes like ours are the magical ones. Petunia, I'm sure you have noticed, has grey eyes. Clover's were green, but a very pale shade. Mother thought for a time that he might have been magic. When I talked to Dumbledore about it, he said that my big brother was a very interesting case. He had been down for Hogwarts until he was three. He had to go and have a blood transfusion done, I don't remember what for, and it killed the magic in him. I never told him. His eyes were the same color as ours until then, and then they faded. I went back to school, happy about my little sister, and told my friends. I'm assuming that it was Peter that passed the information on to Voldemort. Within three days, my parents were dead. Laurel was put into an enchanted sleep. I have no idea why she was saved, but I was grateful. I managed to revive her, but I wasn't old enough in either world to take custody of her. That went to Petunia. Clover still hadn't turned up, so we were rightly afraid for him. Vernon, however, flat out refused to allow Petunia to raise our little sister. She was given up for adoption. I don't know if she knows that we are alive and well, or if she was killed. All I know is that she disappeared into the muggle world, and that she retained the name Laurel. I did do one thing, though. I placed a retroactive tracking charm on her when she was given up. If she ever wants to find us, all she has to do is look."  
  
Harry just stared at his mother. The long narrative seemed to have taken a lot out of her, and she was leaning forward slightly she looked at him, and her eyes were tortured.  
  
"As for Clover, we never saw him alive again. We found out about his death right before I was to start my seventh year. Voldemort sent me a picture of my brother, dead, with a note saying 'Next!' It was cruel beyond belief. You never knew that your uncle and aunt were actually under the Fidelus Charm, did you? It was one of the reasons that you were so safe with them. They co-operated because they didn't want to end up dead. Remus, whom Petunia had known for a long time, was their Secret Keeper. After our supposed deaths, he was determined to keep the last family you had left safe."  
  
She stood abruptly, and moved as if to pull him into a hug. She stepped away, so Harry walked over to her, still stunned, and wrapped his arms around her. She cried then, and he felt a little awkward. Still, it was nice to be there for her when she needed him. And he was determined to find the missing Laurel, because her mother needed her sister. Perhaps, he reflected as he remembered the bruises inflicted by his uncle, she needed both of them.  
  
  
  
A/N- It would be very much appreciated if that little counter went up. In fact, you'll get the next chapter much faster if it goes up by-oh, let's say 5 reviews? Yes. If I have 13 reviews, you'll get the chapter then. If it takes three days, I'll post then anyway. Please don't make me wait that long! 


	4. Flowers Frosted

A/N- Here it is! Thanks to all who reviewed and are still reviewing. I appreciate it more then you know.  
  
"Well, my son, shall we go find out what those Marauders are up to?" Harry nodded, smiled, and walked with her, giving no indication of the thought wheels turning inside his head.  
  
Later that night, he sat in his room, deciding on just how to go about finding Laurel. He also thought about his Aunt Petunia, and tried to figure out just how to get her out from under Vernon's thumb. He sighed. Knowing her, even if she could summon up the strength to leave Vernon, she wouldn't leave her 'Dinky Duddiums" behind. Which meant that any solution that he came up with was going to have to include his great prat of a cousin. That complicated matters. He was about to roll over and go to sleep when a flash of blue fire came up in his fire place. He looked up to see his aunt's head floating there.  
  
He let out a startled yelp, and then noticed that her eye was once again blackened, and she was trying to keep her voice down.  
  
"Harry? Is that you? Did I do this right?" She asked almost anxiously.  
  
"What is it?" He asked, trying to figure out why she had decided to use the powder he had given her when it so obviously made her nervous.  
  
"Dudley is staying at Smeltings for the summer. For fat camp. They decided that since the diet wasn't working, they were going to have to take sterner measures. Your uncle blamed me. I can't stay here, Harry. Could you come and get me?" She looked so desperate, and so beaten down, that Harry found himself agreeing.  
  
"I have to wake Mum and tell her, though. I mean, this is difficult to do. There are several people who want me dead right now. I'll be there as soon as I can. Don't worry, we'll figure something out. Don't be surprised if it isn't me who comes. Unlike you, I'm not under that charm. It can be dangerous on people who don't know how to control it."  
  
It was a mark of how desperate Petunia was that she agreed to have unknown wizards come to her house and get her. Not only pick her up, but use magic and take her to the magic sister whom she had fought with all her life. Harry could tell that things may be even worse then he thought.  
  
He walked downstairs to the comfortable sitting room, hoping that everyone hadn't gone to bed early. He was in time. People were just starting to stand up and stretch, and were very surprised to see him still awake.  
  
"Harry! What are you still doing awake? We thought you were asleep hours ago." His mother looked slightly annoyed at him, as though she was trying to overcome the 'it's past your bedtime' routine that she'd never had the chance to give him.  
  
"Something really important has come up. I need to leave for Surrey immediately." He blurted, not explaining anything. His father started to say no, and then recognized the determination in his son's eyes. It was difficult not to, he'd seen the look on his wife enough.  
  
"Why Surrey, son?" He asked gently, knowing full well that Harry would avoid the Dursley's at all costs. Harry's response surprised them all.  
  
"To get Aunt Petunia. Vernon was beating her again, and it was bad enough that she overcame her natural fear and aversion to magic to use some of the fire talk powder I left with her. She asked me to come get her, and she didn't even flinch when I told her someone other then me might show up at her doorstep. That tells me that this is what is commonly classified as a very bad thing."  
  
Lily looked appraisingly at her son, and gave a single sharp nod. "All right then. She doesn't need any more shocks. You and I will go." Harry looked at her. Her face mirrored his. Obviously, his father and the Marauders knew better then to argue with her. Crimson looked like she wanted to but didn't dare. Harry was fascinated. He knew his mother had a temper, but he didn't know how MUCH of a temper. He watched as she turned to Crimson, and asked "Is your fireplace still connected to the Floo?" The other red head nodded, and she smiled. "Good. The we won't be mucking about on broomsticks attempting to be killed." Harry shot her a look. He knew that she had been Seeker on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, just like he had. That meant there was no way that she could hate flying as much as she professed to occasionally. She threw some powder into the fire, gave her friend a cheeky grin, and shouted 'ARABELLA Figg's House'. She whirled away. Harry, who refused to call his godmother anything that might make her decide her practical jokes needed honing, simply shouted "Sixteen Privet Drive" and was whirled away. He hated floo, he remembered as he whirled around and around. When he thought that he would throw up, he was suddenly spat out into crotchety old Mrs. Figg's living room. He still had a hard time equating his one time babysitter with the vivacious woman that was his godmother. No time for reminiscing now, he told himself firmly. They were on a mission. His mother helped him dust the ashes and soot off, and they walked out the door. Both mother and son were covered by invisibility charms in order to remain inconspicuous. His aunt, practiced people watcher that she was, didn't even notice them coming up the steps until Harry knocked on the door. He figured that was safe, because Vernon's company car wasn't in the drive yet. He wondered where the idiot would be so late at night, especially when he knew that it wasn't safe for him.  
  
Petunia looked out the peephole, and her normally screechy voice was subdued. "Who's there?" She asked, trying to sound forceful.  
  
"Your nephew, and your sister, so open the bloody door already." Lily said irritably. She hadn't forgotten or forgiven her sisters treatment of herself and then her son. These sorts of things take time, and Lily's redheaded temper had been well and truly raised. Petunia flung open the door, and Lily and Harry walked in. As soon as the door was shut and latched, Harry and Lily muttered 'Finite Incantatem'. They appeared, and Petunia was shocked at what she saw. Looking at her sister, she saw a female version of her father. Right down to the impatient look and the slight tilt of the head, she was their parent reincarnate. Two instincts seemed to be battling each other, but when Lily open her arms, Petunia flung herself into them. The sisters hugged for the first time since Lily went to Hogwarts. It seemed odd and awkward to them both, but they clung together. Harry waited, shifting from one foot to the other, waiting for the two women to finish. Petunia finally pulled back.  
  
"You know Lils, for someone who is almost thirty five years old, you sure managed to retain a youthful appearance."  
  
Harry looked shocked. Didn't she understand? His mother looked amused. Maybe this was a good sign.  
  
"You know Petunia, for someone who is almost forty, you sure did NOT retain a youthful appearance." Lily answered calmly. Oops. Maybe it wasn't a good sign.  
  
Petunia grimaced. She had apparently realized her faux pas, and didn't comment on Lily's jibe. Harry lugged his aunts suitcase downstairs, and Lily and Harry once again cast invisibility charms. Harry turned to her.  
  
"Aunt Petunia, are you sure about this? Once we walk out that door, there is no going back." Petunia cast one last longing look around her home, still sparkling clean, and then sighed. She nodded once to Harry.  
  
A/N- Well, since you all responded so marvelously to my request for reviews, I think I'll make it again. Be reminded that I am REQUESTING, not demanding. You will always get the next chapter, it just may be a little longer in coming. Could I please have 20 reviews? I'll post then, or in three days. Ta! 


	5. Escaping Dignity

A/N- Standard disc. Not Mine. Whimper. Sorry it took a bit, I lost the disc I had it on and only just found it again.  
  
  
  
"All right then. Get ready, this charm tingles a bit if you aren't used to it." Petunia tensed herself up, and heard her nephew say "Invisibalius". She felt a slight pins and needles feeling wash over her body, and looked down. She wasn't there. Just as she was prepared to scream, she heard her little sister chuckle.  
  
"Don't even think about screaming, Pet. We'll take it off when we're safe at my house, and not a moment before, got me?" Petunia almost laughed herself, despite everything that was going on. Even after all these years, Lily still knew exactly what she was thinking. She started to nod, realized no one could see her, and said it out loud. "Got you."  
  
The three started out the door. They had barely made it up the walkway when a long low sports care built for two, but in this case only able to seat one, came roaring up. Petunia froze. Vernon was climbing out. He had lipstick stains all over his collar. She didn't start moving again until Harry grabbed her arm and made her walk. She flinched, because he had managed to hit a bruise that no one had gotten around to healing yet. With one last glance at the house behind her, she walked behind. Harry kept a guiding had on her arm, so she knew where they were going. She was very surprised to find out they were stopping outside of Arabella Figg's house. The woman had, after all, gone to live in an old folks home or something only two weeks before.  
  
"We can't stop here! Mrs. Figg doesn't even live here anymore!" she hissed. For some strange reason, her nephew laughed. "I know. She lives with us." He said, and led her inside the now unlocked door."  
  
Once again, the second the door was shut behind them the invisibility charms were removed. Lily appeared to want to use as much magic as humanly possible around her sister. "What do you mean she lives with you? She didn't even LIKE you. And why do you remove the cover as soon as you can?" Petunia may have been scared, hurt, and walking out in her husband, but she hadn't changed that drastically. Harry was relived. He had no idea how to treat a fragile aunt. After all, she was omnipotent when he was growing up. The nastiness was almost refreshing.  
  
Lily looked like she was ready to pitch her sister out on the pavement, so Harry hastily intervened. He may not know his mother as well as he would like, but he knew she would feel guilty later if they didn't finish what they started.  
  
"Firstly, I'd like you to remember that we are rescuing you. At your request, in the middle of the night, when you have never treated either of us very well." Petunia nodded, her face pale and screwed up as if admitting all of this was immensely hard for her. Which, Harry supposed, it was.  
  
"All right. Now, to answer your question, I'm going to pretend that you actually knew something of my mother's life when she was young. She had a very good friend named Crimson Filtch. Crimson is my godmother. Got that?" Once again, Petunia nodded.  
  
"Good. Now, when my parents were banished, Crimson was asked by Dumbledore if she could watch out for me from a distance. I had to be in the care of blood relatives to be completely safe, but she could watch out for any suspicious people, take care of me when you didn't want me around."  
  
She started to see where this conversation was going, and she definitely didn't like it. Too many things didn't fit.  
  
"Crimson took up the challenge. She has been living here as a Muggle for my entire childhood, giving up several lucrative careers to do so. She even used the first name she hated. And as for the cover, we really don't want to stay that way, now do we? Where do you think the invisible man came from?" Harry looked immensely pleased with himself. Petunia looked as though she was having a heart attack. Lily came in then, and told them it was time to go. It was late, she said, and Harry needed to get to bed. Petunia looked around wildly, and then saw Lily grab a pot of a very familiar powder. All those men with red hair had used it when they destroyed the living room two years ago. She was about to be stubborn when she saw that she really had no choice. Lily started to explain how to use it.  
  
"You toss it into the fire, step in, and shout 'Animal Soup'. It will get you to my house. Mind you keep your eyes shut and your elbows tucked in. I've charmed this to make sure that you won't fall out the wrong grate." Harry grinned, remembering his own experience. He could just see his aunt ending up in Knockaturn Alley.  
  
"Harry will go first, to show you. Then you'll go, and I'll put the fire out before apparating home." Petunia nodded, her mouth still forming 'Animal Soup' like her sister was barking mad. The actual name of the Potter residence was now 'Poplar Bends' named in honour of the Muggle school Lily should have attended had she not been a witch. As a security precaution, however, the only people who would actually get there using floo powder had to call out Animal Soup, in honour of the Animagi. Harry grabbed a handful, shouted "Animal soup", and disappeared. He had left his glasses on his nightstand, so he didn't really have to worry about losing them or breaking them.  
  
He was quickly spat out at home, and dusted himself off. He looked around to see his father waiting for him. Before he could say anything, the fireplace spat out a very scared looking Petunia. A couple seconds later, Lily apparated with a pop. She gave a disgusted look at her quaking sister, and then dusted the soot off of her. Petunia collapsed in a heap on the floor. While they were gone, Crimson had made up a room for the new arrival. She appeared in the sitting room just as Lily and James were hauling the annoying wench onto the couch. Oops, make that Lily and Harry. Crimson was amazed at how much the boy looked like his father. Then, he also had so many of Lily's mannerisms it was scary to comprehend. The boy was definitely a mix of his parents.  
  
Lily looked like she was about to get really nasty, so James decided that it was a good time for everyone to get some sleep. He waited a few minutes until no one was watching, and stupefied Petunia. He smiled with satisfaction. He'd wanted to do that for a long time. Lily took one look and spun around to glare at him. He smiled his most charming smile.  
  
"What? Now we can levitate her to her room rather then having to carry her up three flights of stairs. And don't tell me that you never wanted to do that." A slow grin crossed the redhead's features. Then a slight look of regret came over her.  
  
"What now?" He asked, lovingly exasperated. His wife could change moods faster then the weather in Saskatchewan.  
  
"I just thought that it's too bad we can't leave her that way." She grinned at him, and he whispered in her ear.  
  
"Silencing charm and a bottle of wine. Our room in ten minutes." Lily looked up at him, gave him a kiss, and promptly forgot about everyone else in the room.  
  
"Mom, Dad, I'm going to be scarred for life here!" called Harry. Red faced, they broke apart. Harry exchanged a secret grin with Remus and Crimson. That kiss had meant more to them then anyone could imagine. Sirius would have been in on it too, but he was too busy ribbing his best friends.  
  
A/N- Look! No cliffie! Aren't you proud? Well, there it is. We are still just getting warmed up. I won't be updating very frequently, but reviews are still very much appreciated. I will make more time to write and revise if I know it's being read. 


	6. Pranks, Rogues and Cowards

A/N: I found the disk, and discovered exactly how much I had forgotten when I rewrote this chapter. Now, I have to re post this. THIS IS DIFFERENT, WITH CHANGES IN PLOTLINES! Please reread it.  
  
  
  
Finally, Petunia was levitated upstairs, and a hasty Sleepus charm was applied even before they enervated her. Harry grinned to see her wake up, and promptly fall back to sleep again. His mother, a stupid grin on her face, walked him to his room and tucked him in. He thought he was a little big for that, but he wasn't about to protest. This made up for all the tuck- in's he never got when he was still small enough to get them.  
  
He pretended not to notice the bottle of wine his mother had clutched in her hand as he fell asleep. It had been an interesting evening, and he was tired. He would rather not scar himself for life by thinking of what his parents were most likely up to.  
  
Waking in the night, he heard a howling in the distance. Looking out his window, he realised that tonight was the full moon. Thinking back, he knew that Remus had taken his potion that night. That meant there was another werewolf in the forest somewhere. He had to wonder if it was someone too poor to buy the potion, or if it was a rogue who didn't want to be controlled. Shaking his head, he burrowed back underneath his blankets. There was nothing to be done right now. He would have to tell the adult contingent.  
  
The next morning, Harry enjoyed a leisurely lie in. Eventually, he decided to investigate the noises coming from the kitchen, where it sounded like his mother and Crimson were already in residence. The hysterical laughter gave them away. He wandered downstairs, to find the women of the house sporting fluffy bunny tails, and the men cowering in heart and teddy bear spotted boxers near the table. Not batting an eye, he wandered over to the table, snatched a couple of pieces of toast, and sat down.  
  
"Look at him! He didn't even blink!" Sirius said indignantly.  
  
"I've seen worse at breakfast when Fred and George got at the Slytherins," Harry commented lightly. "You guys must be losing your touch."  
  
"Lose. Lily, discipline your son! He has a filthy mouth!" James said, horror struck at the very thought.  
  
"Need I remind you, James, that he is also YOUR son?" Lily mentioned mildly.  
  
"Mine? Why, he doesn't even look like me!" James protested.  
  
Everyone, Harry included, cracked up at the utterly sincere look on his father's face. It bore a striking resemblance to Fred's face when he promised Neville that Peacock Pastries was really just named that because of the colour.  
  
It wasn't until after breakfast, when he thought of going back to sleep that Harry remembered the rogue. Aunt Petunia hadn't woken up yet, so he called the adults into the kitchen, and they listened to him while they ate. Finally, Harry turned to his parents.  
  
"Well, what do you think? Should we go looking for it?" Lily and James exchanged a glance.  
  
"Harry, are you sure it wasn't a normal wolf you heard? They howl at the full moon as well." Lily spoke gently, as if to a small child.  
  
"Mother, we've talked about this. I am not a child. I know what I heard. Sirius? What do YOU think?" Harry turned to his godfather, his eyes both angry and pleading. The chill in his voice could have frozen the tropics in July.  
  
Sirius looked very uncomfortable. Harry felt slightly guilty to be putting him in the middle, but this was important. The sooner his parents realised that he was no longer an infant, the better for all of them. They had things that had to get done. He hadn't told his mother or his aunt yet about his quest. Instead, he was going to do a few things first. He was going to start by getting his father to teach him how to be an Animagus, and then he was going to ask if Ron and Hermione could come and stay for the rest of the summer. After all, he had spent a lot of time at the Burrow over the past few years, and maybe his parents would consider turnabout fair play. They could help him track down Laurel a lot faster then he could by himself. And solve this wolf mystery at the same time. 'Whoa, you ARE getting ahead of yourself. One step at a time, remember?' he thought, with a slight grin. He looked up to see his mother pointing at something behind his back, and told him what to do with a couple of hidden movements. Harry grinned. Evidently, she was just trying to buy a little time.  
  
Luckily, Sirius didn't have to answer his godson. At this point, Remus strolled into the room. He had been having a lie in after the previous night. After looking around to make sure that Petunia wasn't in the room, he began to speak.  
  
"We have a problem. There is a rogue female werewolf running around the forest at night. I don't know where she goes in the day, but there was definitely one there. I smelt her, and I heard her howl. If I hadn't taken the Wolfsbane, I would have more then likely tried to join her."  
  
Harry tried not to look too triumphant, Sirius tried not to look too relieved, and both failed miserably. Lily looked slightly annoyed, though it fit in with her plan. James was hard pressed to keep his temper. He hated being proved wrong, and he obviously wasn't in on his wife's prank.  
  
"I think a few extra wards should take care of the house on full moon nights. And we should probably prepare somewhere for Remus to go to if the potion doesn't work, for whatever reason. We don't want a litter of werewolf puppies, now do we?" Crimson interjected, defusing the situation with her typical humour. She didn't want to see James's temper blow up. When it did, it was worse then Sirius's, and that was saying something.  
  
The impressive lung power that made James and Lily the undisputed Queen and King of Gryffindor rows (Until Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, anyway) was more then likely passed on to Harry. This meant that any parent- son matches were likely to reach ear splitting volume and continue up the decibel chart from there. Crimson liked her hearing, thank you very much. It had taken fourteen years to get it back!  
  
"You know what, Sirius? You are a coward." Lily commented as they cleared the table.  
  
"Lily, I'm wounded! Why would you say such things?" Sirius asked with a puppy dog look on his face.  
  
"Hmm, maybe because you tend to duck and cover when caught between two Potters?" she asked, casually measuring the weight of the left over eggs in one hand.  
  
Sirius looked at her warily. He knew the glint in her eyes. It normally meant that he was about to get caught chewing on his foot.  
  
"Lily, honey, dearest, don't take this the wrong way, but that isn't cowardice. That's called self preservation." Lily grinned at him. It was the same grin she possessed when his hair turned fluorescent green with purple polka dots back in third year.  
  
"Well, my dear Sirius, why are you not doing it now?" she said gleefully, and one tray of leftover eggs hit him from the front, while an entire bucket of pumpkin juice hit him from the back, drenching him. Apparently there was a colouring agent in it as well, because all visible skin was turned a lovely light blue. His hair went white, and he started to sing 'La la la la la la, la la la la lah" when he was really trying to yell at Harry for sneaking up behind him. Mother and son were on the floor, laughing their brains out.  
  
"Look! It's Sirius the Smurf!" Harry managed to choke out. He finally managed to upright himself, leaning on the counter for support. His composure was wasted when Sirius attempted to let out another indignant stream of foul language, and the Smurf theme song once again came from his mouth. He was rolling around on the floor, laughing so hard he thought that his gut would burst. His mother was in the same shape. James, Remus and Crimson heard the commotion and came running. While Sirius looked very funny, James didn't think it warranted the level of hilarity being displayed. Crimson took one look and ran screaming from the room. Apparently she had a Smurf phobia. Remus, who had grown up next to Lily, saw Sirius, gasped, looked at James and managed "Smurf. Muggle thing," before he, too, ended up on the floor next to Lily and Harry. It was capped off when a shrill voice sounded from the top of the stairs.  
  
"Is that Smurfs I hear? That show hasn't been on for ages! Where's the telly, I'll join you!" and promptly found her way into the kitchen. To everyone's amazement, she instantly joined the rest on the floor when she saw the prank Harry would have taken bets that she would have gone Crimson's route. After a few minutes, Sirius the Smurf began to fade, slowly becoming Sirius the man once again. However, the voice charm stayed. He couldn't say anything without singing the theme song until Crimson held Lily at wand point until it was removed.  
  
"That was starting to get on my nerves," she said, after Sirius let out a torrent of curses that would make a sailor blush. Then he turned around, looked at his group of friends, and said mildly, "Just remember, it's my turn next."  
  
The group hastily scattered, leaving Harry and his parents alone in the kitchen with Petunia. The older woman was very understandably confused, and was attempting to figure things out on her own. She didn't get very far before she was sat down, and had everything explained to her. Then Lily looked at her sister, and fingered her wand.  
  
"Petunia, you are an Evans. I expect you to look like one. We have red hair, not blonde. I am going to reverse the dye in your hair. If you have a problem with that, I can bring you back to Vernon." Petunia shook her head. It had actually been Vernon's idea to dye her hair blonde, to distance herself from her family. Lily took the motion to mean assent, and Petunia was now sporting long, red locks very much like her sisters. It threw her pale face into sharp relief. Her blue eyes were darker, and the few freckles that were almost hidden showed prominently. Petunia Lynn Evans was back, and a woman further from Mrs. Vernon Dursley was difficult to find.  
  
After looking at herself in a mirror, she grinned.  
  
"Now, sister of mine, I owe you an apology. I did treat you rotten. I was jealous. Your really didn't miss much in norm- I mean- Muggle school. It was dreadfully boring. You didn't really help things much though, turning teacups to rats and frogspawn and such. I couldn't defend myself. And you were so odd! Laurel. Laurel would have been too, I guess. Dylan never saw her. I guess that was the final straw between us. He and I were close, too. We both felt very left out when you went away. I couldn't believe that you left your twin behind. You didn't even seem to care that he wasn't there. He was missing, and you still went back to that school of yours. Then Mother and Dad were killed. I was married to Vernon. You know, it wasn't me who didn't want her. It was Vernon. I had to give her up! I had to. He was all I had. I'm sorry."  
  
Harry had already received an apology from her, so he wasn't too upset when she said nothing to him. The wheels in his head were turning. So this was about family, then. He needed to get a hold of the people who used to comprise his whole family- and still were part of it. 


	7. Backyard Quidditch

A/N- If you've already read chapter 6, I suggest you go back and do so again. It's completely different, with several plot elements that are necessary. Can you tell I found my disk? Those who frequent Gryffindor tower will notice a nod to my beta in that chapter.  
  
He quickly gleaned permission to break in the Quidditch pitch and was popping out of Ron's fireplace to invite the Weasley's over. No one was in the kitchen, and so he called out as soon as he came. It was a bit strange to be there when no one else was, so he went wandering out back, following the noises being made in the background. Sure enough, he found most of the Weasleys on their makeshift Quidditch pitch, playing such a rousing game that they didn't notice him right away. Ginny saw him first, but she went into a spectacular dive at that same moment, and came up red faced, the snitch in her hand.  
  
"Hello!" he shouted loudly. The game came to a screeching halt as each Weasley realized that there was someone who didn't have red hair running in to the Quidditch game. They relaxed as they realized that it was Harry. Ron and Ginny rocketed down, and both got to him at about the same time as one brown haired girl came zipping toward him on the other side.  
  
"Harry! Hermione!" Ron shouted, hugging them both as they all jumped up and down. The other family members watched in amusement as Harry hugged Ron with lots of manly backslapping, then Hermione, then Ginny. He seemed to hold Ginny for slightly longer then was necessary, something her big brothers were quick to pick up on. They chose to say nothing, as Ron and Hermione were currently engaged in an epic like snog.  
  
"Harry! What are you doing here? We thought you were still at the Lump and Hags!" George called merrily.  
  
"Lump and Hag's? That sounds remarkably like a pub," Harry laughed. "And the Hag, otherwise known as Aunt Petunia, is now in residence at Poplar Bends, along with me, Mum, Crimson, and the rest of the crazy crew someone was stupid enough to christen the Marauders.  
  
"Wait a second, Harry, you don't mean THE Marauders, do you? Not Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs?" Fred leapt up excitedly.  
  
Harry gave Ron a look that clearly stated 'You mean you didn't TELL them?' Ron shrugged.  
  
"Oh, shove off, you two." Ginny said, exasperated at her now overexcited elder brothers. "What brings you here, Harry?"  
  
"Well, I suggested to Lily- um, I mean, mum, that I come bother you lot today since they're still working on the wards for the house, and she suggested I come get you instead so we can break in the new Quidditch pitch Prongs and Padfoot charmed. What do you think?"  
  
The siblings looked at each other, and a conversation appeared to take place without a word being spoken. "Count us in," said Bill, speaking for all of them. "On one condition."  
  
"What's that?" Harry asked, not liking the sneaky grins on all faces.  
  
"You play as a Weasley. Now!" And seven wands pointed themselves at Harry's head with a flash.  
  
A startled Harry looked from one face to another. What could they be doing? Were these actually the people he had grown to know and love, or were they someone else, hiding under Polyjuice potion? Instantly, he threw up a shield charm, half a second after all seven cast the same spell.  
  
Harry ducked, but he wasn't fast enough. He felt the spell hit him, but he didn't feel any differently. He looked around, to see everyone laughing as he carefully felt his arms and legs.  
  
"What did you do? And don't do that! I could give Moody lessons in paranoia lately! For a second I thought you were all Polyjuiced Death Eaters!"  
  
Ginny giggled at him, and then looked sideways at her brothers. "Polyjuiced Death Eaters? I always though of them more as fluffy, red haired Marshmallows myself. And we didn't do anything."  
  
"That is, unless you count giving you red hair and freckles as anything. Then we have done something." Ron noted happily. "And what's this about marshmallows, Virginia?"  
  
Her only response was an eep, and she started to run towards the house. "Last one to Harry's is a rotten egg!" They got there in time to here her shout "Poplar Bends!" as she disappeared.  
  
"Ummmm.. Harry, wasn't she supposed to say something else?" Ron asked nervously.  
  
"She'll be in Sirius's holding cell. Come on, we'd better go and get her. Where are the others?"  
  
"Bill's leaving a note for Mum and Dad to join us, and everyone else has disapperated. Fred and George just got their licenses." Harry, choosing not to shudder over the amount of havoc that the two pranksters would now be able to cause, smiled at his friend.  
  
"So we're all present or accounted for?" he asked jokingly.  
  
"Looks like. After you, my friend." Ron gestured expansively at the fireplace.  
  
"You just don't want to risk Sirius's holding cell," Harry said with a laugh as he helped himself to a handful of floo powder.  
  
"How could you tell?" Ron smiled as the newly christened Weasley disappeared from sight.  
  
Soon, everyone including a very embarrassed and annoyed Ginny were making their way out to the newly constructed Quidditch pitch. Harry hadn't been to check it out yet, and so it was with similar shock that he observed the regulation-sized pitch and hoops. He wandered to the broom shed to discover that Sirius had made good use of some of his restitution money. Inside the shed there a mix of high quality brooms, and the gleam of Firebolts was apparent. Some were Nimbuses, obviously meant to be guest brooms, but mostly there were Firebolts complete with registry numbers. Each was engraved with a name, and all of the guests let themselves gape as they read Lily, James, Sirius, Crimson, Remus, Ron, and Ginny, one right after another. Ginny and Ron both stood dumbfounded, as they gazed at the gleaming wood. Lily had stridden up behind them, grinning.  
  
"I didn't think Hermione would really want a broom, but we have an extra on reserve in case she does. As it stands, we have thirteen players- James, me, Crimson, Remus, Sirius, and all of you. We need one more, and a ref., and we can break in these babies. And Harry, WHAT did you do to your hair?" Lily's voice had trailed off as she noticed that her son was now sporting bright red hair and as many freckles as Ginny or Ron. "Our fault, Mrs. Potter!" Fred and George made identical bows. "We are proud to admit that we have made your son into an honorary Weasley. We had made it our mission to follow Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs into mischief." They didn't see Ron's frantic headshake at them at the first mention of Wormtail.  
  
Lily's eyes became icy as soon as she heard the name. "If you want to follow Wormtail, then I hope you enjoy Azkaban," she said bitingly.  
  
"Azkaban?" Fred asked stupidly.  
  
"That's where the traitor is." Lily responded.  
  
Neither twin could manage anything past an "oh."  
  
Lily visibly shook herself, and then continued her train of thought. " If Hermione will referee, then we just need one more. Does anyone know someone who could come join us?"  
  
"I can." Everyone was a bit startled to hear Molly's voice. Sure, they had left her a note, but no one really expected to see her so soon.  
  
Lily smiled at the older woman. "Great. Now, teams. I think that we should have the Weasleys against the Marauders. You?" Molly grinned.  
  
"That does give us a bit of an advantage, you know," she said with the air of one trying not to gloat.  
  
"That's what you think." Lily responded with a grin. "One of your children needs to become an honorary Marauder.  
  
Ginny volunteered happily, and with catcalls and whoops of 'traitor!' following her, she laughed as her hair was charmed black and Harry's was transformed back. Hermione had wandered to the house to gather the men, and come back with a bevy of people following her. Apparently, someone had heard Petunia grumping about the game when she walked into town. Stopping her, they quietly asked her who was playing. When they heard the words 'Weasley' along with 'nephew, Harry,' they immediately gleaned that Harry Potter was taking on former Hogwarts Quidditch prodigy Charlie Weasley. Lily was not amused at the sight of what amounted to a stadium full of spectators entering their private playground, but James and Sirius counted it as part of the Quidditch experience and conjured up some stands. Pretty soon, vendors were appearing, selling all sorts of odds and ends. Harry looked at Ginny in her newly black hair and started to chuckle.  
  
"What?" she asked, confused.  
  
"I was just thinking that this is an awful lot of fuss for one backyard Quidditch game," he explained with a small grin.  
  
"Oh." She took in the stands, the vendors, the enterprising people taking attendance, and the various bets that were taking place, and the she started to giggle too. He was right, it was a bit much. And if the Quidditch season wasn't over for the year, it probably wouldn't have mattered much that there was a game going on. But since it was, people were passionate to see a game that promised to be good.  
  
Hermione, terrified of refereeing in front of such a large crowd, happily regained her seat on one of the team benches when Arthur, having just gotten off work, arrived and relieved her. Somehow, news had traveled fast enough that Lee Jordan, the twins friend, had also heard about the game and showed up to commentate. All this game was missing now were the Slytherins glaring at them, and it would be like being back at Hogwarts. Harry just grinned as the players took to their brooms. Lily and Crimson had also charmed their hair black, preventing anyone from becoming confused.  
  
"Welcome to the very first Uninvited Open! These two teams, hoping for a bit of backyard Quidditch, forgot to tell us devoted to stay out! And so starts the came. Molly Weasley blows her whistle, and they're off! Bill Weasley seizes the Quaffle and is charging down the pitch."  
  
The game was fast and furious. Many people were reminded of the World Cup two years prior. The players were moving so fast that they were blurs. The score kept climbing. First the Weasleys then the Marauders, then the Weasleys were in the lead. Harry and Charlie soared above the rest, enjoying the feeling of the wind in their hair.  
  
They saw the Snitch simultaneously, and went into a dive. Just as they were about to seize it, it sped off again. The spectators let out a disappointed sigh. Charlie climbed high into the air, and then went into another spectacular dive. Harry started to follow, and then saw that Charlie was feinting. Charlie pulled out a little late and nudged the ground. He noticed that Harry was heading for something gold high above him. Harry was already almost there, and with a triumphant whoop he seized the struggling little fluttery ball.  
  
Charlie landed with the rest of the Weasleys. They had been ten points ahead when Harry caught the snitch. The score stood at 260-120. No one was disappointed with the results. The Knight Bus came to collect those who were too tipsy on Butterbeer to Apparate, and everyone else quietly took to their broomsticks or Apparated away. After about fifteen minutes, the only people left were the people who started off there. Lee Jordan had left with a grin on his face and a contract to commentate on minor Quidditch matches from the director of WWN, who had heard about the game from a friend of a friend who had been at the corner store.  
  
After tidying up, Lily was amused to find a large bowl sitting next to the first goal post, full to brimming with Galleons. It was funny because there was a small note attached to it, saying admission, One Galleon, since we're crashing their game without an invitation. Lily called the others over.  
  
Harry spoke up. "I we should divide it by people. I don't want a share, though." Crimson, Sirius, Lily and James all agreed and then backed out. That left the Weasley's and Remus with three hundred galleons to split.  
  
Ron was grinning. He knew what the others had done, just to save his families pride. So he happily took his share, and said nothing. Bill and Charlie surruptiously slid their shares into their parent's pockets. Both had very well paying jobs, and they knew that their parents still struggled to make ends meet occasionally. It was a great afternoon.  
  
Harry smiled. It was time to implement phase one of his plan. 


	8. Full Frontal Fluff

A/N: For all those who don't like full frontal fluff, skip this chapter. I'll summarise it at the beginning of the next chapter. This is to balance out all the deaths I've been writing on my other fics, archived at Gryffindortower.net. And yes, that is a shameless plug. Go read them! Thanks so much to everyone who's reviewed. I appreciate it.  
  
Waiting until everyone had calmed down, Harry turned to his parents. Innocently, he asked if Ron, Hermione and Ginny could stay for two weeks. After all, he explained rationally, wouldn't it be great to be able to have them over, rather then the other way around?  
  
Ron looked at him in open-mouthed amazement. When the adults excused themselves from the main group to discuss it, he turned to his best friend.  
  
"Harry! I didn't think you could still USE that expression!" Harry merely smiled angelically, and the other three were reduced to fits of laughter.  
  
"I should probably go home and get my dad. Otherwise, they'll just have to hash this out again anyway," Hermione said as the laughter died down. As if on cue, Crimson bellowed over to them.  
  
"Hermione, could you be a dear and go get your mum or dad? They need to be in on this, too." Once again, the four friends looked at each other and laughed. Then Hermione trotted off towards the fireplace. Half an hour later she arrived back, looking exasperated with a Muggle gentleman in tow. She led him to the adults to make the introductions.  
  
"Mr. Potter, this is my dad, Ernest Granger. Dad, this is Harry's father, James Potter." That done, she wandered back over to where the rest of the younger generation was sitting. She sat down, and was careful to address herself to everyone while the adults were still watching.  
  
"He wants to make sure that I'm not being an imposition, and that I won't be sharing a room with the boys, and that we'll have adult supervision, and one hundred other things that are really irksome. Honestly!" Harry and Ron both had flashbacks of Hermione in first year. They tried not to show it, but small grins appeared on their faces. Hermione tutted impatiently. "I know, I know. But I can't help it!" She grinned at them, and then said "Look, I think that your dad's have finally convinced mine that I won't be kidnapped and sold to a harem."  
  
Everyone laughed, and then looked towards the men, where sure enough, Mr. Granger was shaking James's hand. Hermione walked over to them, gave her dad a hug, and sent him back home via floo. She breathed a sigh of relief as she headed over towards Ron and let herself settle in his lap. Crimson, from her vantagepoint at the doorway, laughed as she saw it. It reminded her of a time long gone, when she waited for McGonagall to leave before settling herself in Sirius's arms. She missed him.  
  
As if sensing her thoughts, the object of her affections snuck up behind her and snaked his arms around her waist. Leaning back, she rested the back of her head on his chest. She reached back and stroked his now shorter hair, and let out a sigh of contentment. This was how things were supposed to be. For a moment, they forgot the multitude of people who were in plain view. The simply took comfort in having each other, together again at long last. Crimson had known about the secret keeper switch, but no one would believe her, thinking she was merely attempting to find a way, any way, to let her lover and fiancée off.  
  
Harry looked over towards the doorway, and saw a redhead leaning on a dark haired man. He smiled. He never really noticed how much his godparents looked like his parents- but only on the surface. If you went deeper, Lily and James were calm and cool, with hints of fire. If they were stones, they would be opals. Crimson and Sirius were more like rubies- flames always burning hot, everything shown at once. He looked over to where Remus was standing, alone. His heart ached for him. If anything, perhaps the mysterious female werewolf might provide his mentor with a companion.  
  
He shook himself as his mother and Molly Weasley called everyone in for dinner. He looked around the table, noticing the raucousness for the first time. He mentally paired up people in his mind. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley; His parents; His godparents. Ron and Hermione, his best friends. Bill had a new girlfriend. Charlie was dating Katie Bell, who was a new intern at the dragon reserve. Fred was with Angelina, and George, Alicia. What was it about Quidditch players? He thought, amused. He then looked at Remus standing alone. That thought bothered Harry more then he wanted to admit. And last but not least, he looked at the youngest Weasley. He felt himself falling. She was so pretty, he thought to himself. He knew whom he'd like to pair her off with.  
  
"Earth to Harry, come in Harry!" Ron was waving a hand in front of his face. Harry snapped out of it, very glad that Ron didn't know that his best friend was fantasising about his little sister.  
  
"Sorry about that. Wasn't paying attention. What were you saying?" Ron shook his head.  
  
"I said, when we're all done, are we going to meet in your room to discuss whatever it is that's got your knickers in a twist?" Harry lightly walloped his friend.  
  
"Of course. You, Ginny Hermione and me will head up there. Everyone done?" After quickly clearing their plates, they excused themselves and the four ran upstairs.  
  
"I know that someone is going to try eavesdropping, so I'll charm the room, all right, Harry? We'll be able to hear out, but no one will be able to hear in." Harry nodded, and she cast it.  
  
"That's an interesting charm, Hermione. Where'd you find it?" Harry asked, curious.  
  
"Trust me, you don't want to know." Hermione said evasively, and then looked at Ron. Ron's ears turned red, and Harry got the feeling that his friend would be subject to more interesting information gleaned from whatever sources it was. Ginny scooted closer to him, and whispered in his ear. Her light breath, still smelling of strawberries from dessert, tickled his ear.  
  
"She got it from '10,001 Spells Every Witch Should Know.' I'm betting my brother would LOVE to enjoy some of the other charms in that book." Harry was turning red, and he laughed. Ron was looking at them suspiciously.  
  
"What did you say, Ginny?" He asked her.  
  
"Whispering, dear brother is so that other parties do not hear what is being said. In this case, other parties include you." She gave him a saucy grin, and gave Hermione a look that clearly said, "I'll tell you later." Ron looked a bit put out, but since there was very little he could do about it, he brought Harry up to task.  
  
"So, Harry, What is it that you want us for? Our superior intellect, or perhaps our strength? Do tell."  
  
"The only strength you have Ron, is not in what most of us laughingly call your brain." Ginny commented, moving even closer to Harry. Feeling very brave, Harry put his arm around her. He looked down, and asked "Comfortable?" Ginny nodded, more then a little nervous. While she was no longer the hero-worshipping eleven-year-old she used to be, she still was in love with Harry Potter. Now it seemed that she might be making progress. It was about bloody time.  
  
Haltingly, Harry explained his very messed up family history to them. Ginny snuggled closer when he got to the part about his aunt. Ron sat with Hermione in his lap, on the other side of the room.  
  
"So, I need to find her if she's even still alive. Mom needs her sister, and Aunt Petunia is carrying around more guilt then she needs." Ginny mumbled something. Harry looked at her, and asked, "What was that?"  
  
She turned beet red, and said more clearly, "I'd leave her with it, if I were you. She deserves it." Ron agreed. He then noticed just how close Harry and his sister was sitting. He gave them a very measured look, and then Hermione decided a distraction was called for. After about five minutes, Harry cleared his throat, and Ginny's giggles called them back into the word of the non-snogging. Finally, they got down to mapping out the search for Laurel. 


	9. Cough, Choke, Sputter

A/N- Two moves and two new stories later, I'm back on this one. I've attempted to self-beta this one, so it may have some improvement in quality. Art, thanks so much for the mini-betas. I forgot to mention that Ron and Hermione were granted the same magic-using privileges as Harry, in order to defend themselves. Please keep in mind this story was planned far before we even had a DATE for OotP, let alone the book. And with that long- winded note, Happy reading!  
  
A few hours later, they were still all gathered in Harry's room. Hermione was still going on her own tangent, but the rest were too used to the results her tangents brought to be annoyed.  
  
"So, how old would she be now, then? If she was born in your mother's fifth year. your parents are thirty-four now, right? They had you when they were nineteen. That would make your aunt. nineteen! She's only four years older then we are!" Hermione was amazed. So was Harry, he just didn't let it show. "So we're looking for a nineteen year old witch in continental Europe. Great, that won't be like finding a needle in a haystack." Ron looked at Harry.  
  
"What makes you think that she's not in Great Britain?" he asked, confused.  
  
"It's obvious, Ron. If she's only four years older then us, she would have gone to Hogwarts with us. I'm pretty sure we would have noticed someone that was the dead likeness of Harry's mother in school." Ginny was smug, she had caught something before her older brother did. That didn't happen often.  
  
"Now that we've got that figured out, how are we going to find her?" Ron's ears were red, and he wanted to keep from looking like a complete idiot.  
  
"Check adoption records, write Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, and generally turn over all rocks we can find." Harry decided. They started off by writing the letters. After sending Hedwig to Durmstrang and Pig to Beauxbatons, they sat and looked around. Finally, Ron gave a very fake yawn, looked at Harry, who still had his arm around Ginny, and said "I think I'll hit the sack. I want to get in a nap before dinner." He stood up and left. Five minutes later, Hermione did the same thing. Harry and Ginny looked at each other and started to laugh.  
  
"I wonder who they think they're kidding." Ginny gasped. Harry agreed.  
  
"They're probably snogging up a storm." His eyes darkened. He wouldn't mind doing that himself, come to think of it. Ginny saw the look in his eyes and giggled. Time to spice things up, she thought happily. Three days ago wouldn't have even contemplated touching Harry, let alone what she was about to do now.  
  
She reached over, and poked him in the very sensitive spot between waist and ribs. He jumped, and then looked at her. She was smiling angelically, as if she wouldn't dream of disturbing him. He retaliated without mercy, and soon they were engaged in a full-fledged tickle fest. It stopped abruptly when they rolled off the couch, and Harry found himself pinning Ginny to the ground.  
  
The air heated. The tension was palpable as his green eyes once more darkened to emerald, and her brown ones became almost black.  
  
"Ginny?" he asked, huskily.  
  
"What?" her voice was breathless, her cheeks flushed.  
  
"Don't hate me for this," he said quietly. With that, he lowered himself, and kissed her. His lips pressed roughly against hers, and then softened as she responded. A low moan emerged from her throat as the two of them explored each other. He tastes like apples, she thought fleetingly. He couldn't think. He only felt. Finally, they came up for air.  
"How could I hate you for giving me something I've always wanted?" She asked, as they sat up.  
  
"You always wanted to be pinned and kissed?" Harry asked, genuinely confused.  
  
"No, you prat, I always wanted to be pinned and kissed by YOU." Ginny said with a laugh.  
"Although I had also wished that you would be my first kiss, too."  
  
Harry looked at her. He had been kissed a couple of times, after being cornered in the lockers after Quidditch. None of them were like what he had just shared with Ginny.  
  
"Really? Who was your first kiss, then?" He asked her, interested despite himself.  
  
"Neville. He kissed me after the Yule Ball." Ginny replied, loving the flare of possessiveness in Harry's eyes.  
  
She was cuddled in his arms, and wanted to stay there. But unfortunately, the outside world has a way of intruding, and his mother was calling up the stairs.  
  
"Harry? Would you come down here please? Bring Ginny, Ron and Hermione. Your father and I have something we'd like to discuss with you." Harry savored those words. It was still sometimes difficult for him to fathom that he now had parents.  
  
Luckily, Ron and Hermione had also heard his mother call, and together, the four of them trooped back down the stairs. Crimson looked on in amusement, noting the flushed and slightly mussed appearance of all four. She had heard the footsteps when Ron and Hermione had retreated, and the silence was something of a dead giveaway. Although, she thought, noticing the still heated expressions the two couples were shooting at each other when they thought no one was looking, she doubted that it had gone that far. After all, Harry and Ginny weren't even dating yet. Ron and Hermione, on the other hand. Nope. Hermione's blouse may have been buttoned wrong, but the dozens of buttons down her long skirt were still perfectly neat. Catching her eye, she nodded towards the shirt. Hermione looked down, turned a shade of scarlet to rival Ron, ran out of the room, and returned with her blouse properly buttoned. Looking over at Sirius, she saw that he, too, had noticed the girls disarray, and was as amused by it as she was.  
  
Finally, James and Lily started talking. After a 'you first' look, James began. "I know that you three have heard the stories of Moony, Padfoot and Prongs." He conspicuously left out Wormtail, but everyone mentally added it anyway. " You haven't heard the stories of the Cerise Unicorns, however. That was because no one except for Sirius and I knew that your mother and Crimson had become Animagi as well. There was one difference. It had taken us two years to learn- from third year until the end of our fifth. It took them twenty-eight days. And they still can transform better, and stay longer then either of us. Lily?" Harry's mother had already transformed. Where their was a very pretty lady now stood a delicate unicorn. It was different from those usually seen in the wild. It was a brilliant red, and had a single gold stripe down it's forehead. It popped back into Lily.  
  
"Unlike your father, we never had giveaways. We had our own little society, the female version of the Marauders, but it was named after ourselves. Our nicknames were given by your father and Sirius, long before we had our first transformation. You just met Tiger. This is Fireball." Crimson transformed, and her red coat showed hints of gold and orange. She then popped back.  
  
"We didn't choose our animals. We thought that it would be better to transform into the creature that suited us best. It was one of the reasons that we took so little time to learn it." Here, the adults paused, as if questioning a decision already made. James looked at Lily, who stared back at him. Finally, James began to speak.  
  
"We were wondering if you four wanted to carry on the tradition," he said finally. "I'm against not telling your parents about it, though. We'll need their permission before we do anything." Ron, Ginny and Hermione looked at each other, grinned, and headed for the fireplace.  
  
"We'll be right back," they said in unison. The fire whisked them away. 


	10. Good Morning, Animagi

_A/N- An update, try not to have a heart attack! Honestly, I'm not sure how many more of these you'll have. I don't even know if I'm going to finish this story. I'm going to try, but my reasoning is on my profile if you want to read it. So, my dear readers, it's been very close to a year since you've had an update. I apologize for that, and if any of you are still reading, I thank you._

"So, Harry, what do you think?" James asked after the other three had gone for permission.

"Could- er, I'm not really sure how to ask this- um, do you think I might be able to meet Prongs?" Harry got out finally, his green eyes nervously darting back and forth between his parents.

His father's eyes softened, and where James Potter was standing, their now stood a buck, exactly the same as Harry's Patronus. Even the round markings around the eyes were the same.

"You were there that night." It wasn't a question, and his father didn't need to ask which night Harry meant. He had already heard the story of the night that Remus and Harry became aware of Sirius' innocence.

"In you, I was. You've seen me transform before, when you were very small." James pulled Harry into a hug. Even though he was almost an adult, and one who had been snogging his girlfriend very few minutes earlier, he revelled in it. He was never sure he would ever really get used to normal human contact. He knew he would never take it for granted, either.

Hermione came tumbling out of the fireplace, and father and son broke apart. Her face was flushed, and she looked as though Professor McGonagall had just awarded three hundred points to Gryffindor and pronounced her Head Girl.

"They said I could. They say I can!" she said breathlessly. "When do we start?" She looked around the room, obviously hoping for someone to say 'right now'. Remus smiled at her. She was still the eager little bookworm that he had taught in third year, even if she had grown up some. She was practically dancing from one foot to the other with impatience.

"Not until tomorrow. It's getting late, and we've had one long day. Besides that, we don't even know if Ron and Ginny have permission yet. They also needed to get their clothing, so they may be a little while. Their family left just before we called you." She looked so disappointed that Lily and Crimson took pity on her.

"Come into the kitchen, dear. You won't believe how much fun we're having introducing Pet to everything." Hermione, who liked to lecture almost as much as she liked to learn, quickly followed the women out of the room.

Twenty minutes later, when Harry was starting to get seriously concerned, the two youngest Weasleys tumbled out of the fireplace. Ginny looked happy but exasperated, and Ron's expression was so similar to hers that everyone in the room cracked up. After dusting themselves off, they asked in unison, "What's so funny?" They turned around, looked at each other, and glared. This made everyone laugh even harder, until they both gave up and joined in.

"Did you get permission?" Harry asked anxiously, after everyone had calmed down.

"Yes. Finally. It took about twenty minutes of non-stop talking, pleading and cajoling before mom would even consider it. We finally got her around to the idea in the end, though." Ginny looked exhausted. "Dad's going to get the dispensation to allow me to do extracurricular magic tomorrow when he goes into the office."

Harry grinned at her. "I still think it was absolutely ridiculous of them to not issue you one in the first place. You helped defeat Voldemort, too."

"Harry, I wasn't even there when the spell was performed." Ginny said quietly. She was a bit hurt no one had let her know what was going on until after it had already happened.

"No, but you resisted him for a solid year with almost no magical training. You'd think they would have given you one THEN," Harry said firmly, trying not to blush as he praised her. Luckily, his mother noticed and changed the subject.

"Well, since we'll be starting tomorrow, you should probably go up and get some sleep. You might like to know that one of Hermione's fathers conditions was a 'Virgin Alert' charm on her bedroom door, and we did the same for Ginny." Sirius added, deadpan. The teenagers looked at each other nervously, then Hermione started to laugh.

"Sirius! I didn't know you were allowed to go anywhere near anything that Muggle!" Sirius looked shocked, and the rest of the adults let out the laughter that had been threatening to explode after Sirius's comment.

"I love that movie!" Ron looked confused, as did Crimson and Ginny.

"Space Balls!" Lily said delightedly. "We corrupted Sirius with it by third year! Certain people, however, neglected to watch it for fear of contaminating their so called 'pure' love affair with Hans Solo." She slid a look over at Crimson, who was looking at the ceiling and whistling tunelessly.

"We will charm the doors, though. So any nefarious nocturnal activities will become common knowledge, got it?" Lily fixed her favourite mother's glare on all four teens, and they meekly trooped up to bed. After everything was quiet, and everyone else had gone up to bed, Sirius turned to Crimson. He pulled her close, and began to nibble on her ear.

"What was that about nefarious nocturnal activities?" He asked lightly.

"Come on up, Mr. Black, and I'll show you." Crimson almost purred.

They both missed breakfast the next morning.

After everyone else finished, Lily and James taught the kids how to check the wards as soon as Ginny's owl arrived with the proper forms. After making sure they had mastered the spells, they sent the four outside. The three adults trooped up the stairs to wake their errant companions. They knew the chances of them being otherwise occupied was large, so they came prepared. Each held a bucket of charmed water. When tossed on the slug-a-beds, it would either sing '_Good Morning, Good Morning"_ or _"My baby does the Hanky Panky"._ It was matched with a _sonorous_ charm, so anyone within the grounds would be able to hear it. As an added perk, it also stayed just above the freezing level.

With a quiet _Alohomora_, they broke into their friend's room. Both were still sound asleep, looking completely innocent of any wrongdoing. That is, except for the myriad of clothing tossed in every direction all over the room, up to and including a sock draped over a lamp. Lily gave the signal, and _'My baby does the Hanky Panky'_ began blaring to wake the dead. She smiled as Crimson and Sirius came up sputtering.

"Good morning! I warned you that any nefarious nocturnal activities would be common knowledge. Or did you think that that only applied to the kids?" She then ran for cover, following James and Remus. From the yard, Crimson could hear catcalls and laughter.

"Better you then us!"

"Go Sirius!"

"Beat him, Hermione!"

"Ginny! Shut up!"

"Make me!"

"You asked for it!"

"Tickle fight!"

Sirius looked at her, and they broke out laughing. They ran to the window where sure enough, Ginny had Ron pinned to the ground while Hermione was tickled him. As they watched, dripping the cold water all over the new carpets, the tables turned on the girls. Harry snuck up from behind them and began tickling Ginny. Once she was distracted, Ron jumped up with a speed that many an Auror would envy. In a second, he had Hermione pinned and was giving her the tickling of her life. The girl's shrieks echoed over the yard, but then abruptly stopped. Concerned, Crimson attempted to locate both couples. Ron and Hermione seemed to be snogging wholeheartedly on a small corner of the lawn. She snickered, but left them alone for the moment. Maybe they would give her more ammunition to tease them with later. Then she scanned the lawn again. Where were Harry and Ginny? Seeing no sign, she got dressed and quickly made her way down the stairs to the yard.

As they walked away, hand in hand, Harry grinned down at the redhead beside him. She was long and lanky like Ron, he mused. She was only about three inches shorter then he was, and he had sprouted up over this past school year. He was now almost six feet tall, though he hadn't really filled in all that much yet. She, on the other hand, was very much filling out, and Harry looked at her with pure male approval in his eyes.

"Harry?" she said quietly, not quite looking at him.

"Gin?" he answered, stopping and turning to look at her.

"Why now?" She didn't need to clarify what she meant. He knew.

"I'm not sure," he responded truthfully.

"Oh." She gave him a brilliant smile- brilliant enough, in fact, to make Harry very, very nervous.

"Uh, Gin? Why are you grinning at me like that?"

"It means that you didn't waste time avoiding me for Voldemort's sake. It also means that you're not just trying to sleep with me. That's what Mandy said, anyway." He still looked mystified at this piece of feminine logic, but held his tongue. Sirius had explained to him a long time ago that attempting to understand girls was futile. It could also get you hit, he had advised, so be careful what you say. Harry was trying to figure out exactly what he should say when something in the underbrush caught his eye, and he immediately pushed Ginny behind him.

"Get back, wand out!" he hissed at her. She obeyed without question, instinctively obeying the command voice that snapped out. He drew his wand and started mentally going over all the curses and hexes he learned for the TriWizard tournament. One ominous shape slowly emerged from the inside of a hollow tree. Harry took one look and gasped. It was tall, and skeletally thin. Slit like eyes with glowing red pupils looked down at him. The flat, snake like nose sneered, and Harry started to shudder. No mere curse of hex would defeat this monster. This was the one that still haunted his nightmares; one that Dumbledore had told him was dead and destroyed into nothingness. What the hell had happened?


	11. Relevations

_A/N- Trying to finish this story in order to avoid complete abandonment, but it's difficult. Comments on style, ect, are welcome and wanted. _

    Lord Voldemort advanced slowly and menacingly towards Harry, but saying nothing at all. Ginny looked at Harry, meaning to defend her to the death, and then she realized something. Looking at the figure again, it didn't look like the pictures of a healthy, full power Lord Voldemort. In fact, it looked exactly like Harry had described him to look at the end of the tournament. Without stopping to think, she threw herself in front of Harry. If she were right, everything would be good. If she was wrong... she didn't want to think about what would happen if she were wrong.

    Harry yelled at her, and she almost turned back to look at him. She couldn't however. She had been right. Lord Voldemort disappeared in a puff of smoke, and turned into a young, handsome boy of about sixteen.

    "You'll finally let me kill him, you stupid little girl." The Boggart sneered. Ginny was familiar with this Boggart. It had been her greatest fear since she was eleven. Luckily, Harry caught on, and also stepped forward. Together, they got rid of it, just as Crimson came running up. Taking in their sweaty faces, and their wands, she led them back to the house. On the far corner of the lawn, Ron and Hermione were still snogging heatedly, oblivious to everything but each other's presence.

    After they explained what had happened in the forest, the adults cast each other worried looks. The wards that were up should have made it impossible for any dark to come into the enclosure. Then Sirius perked up.

    "I know what happened! We specifically left out dark creatures, remember? Otherwise the wards would have repelled Moony!" Lily looked relieved.

    "So, now we fine tune that ward to only let in werewolves. That works." James was smiling. "That can wait, though. We have four teenagers who are anxiously waiting for Animagus lessons. Petunia, do you want to watch?" Petunia shook her head. She was in the middle of one of her daily soap operas.

    "Go ahead. I'll make lunch, since certain people here have been known to give everyone indigestion." She looked at her sister significantly. Lily merely smiled, shook her head, and walked out of the room. It appeared that her sister was fast regaining her old form, and for that Lily was grateful. She had no idea how to deal with a nice Petunia. If it also got her out of cooking, that was fine with her.

    Once everyone was out on the lawn, Lily and Crimson took over the lessons. After all, they reasoned, it had taken a fraction of the time for them to learn it compared to Sirius and James. By the end of the day, everyone was well on their way. They had done the first twelve charms, and taken the potion that would determine what animal they were working towards. Hard as it was, Harry wanted to be black. He didn't really care what animal he was, as long as he was black. The others drank their potion first. Hermione went first, and popped into a peregrine falcon with beautiful brown markings. She took off into flight, and then landed carefully as she became human again.

    "I think I'm going to like this," she said with a smile on her face. Then it was Ron's turn. He drank his potion, muttering 'Anything but a weasel, anything but a weasel'. He got his wish. He transformed in red fox, exactly the came shade as his hair.

    Human again, Ron looked at the others. "That was a fox, right? Not a weasel?" Harry nodded. Ginny disentangled herself from Harry, and moved to the middle of the circle. She drank her potion, and the sight that greeted them was beautiful. No one had expected a magical Animagus, but Ginny had transformed into a Pegasus.

    "Was I just a horse with wings?" Harry nodded, and Ginny whooped around the yard. Then she stopped. "I guess I'll be rather conspicuous, now won't I?" Lily whispered something in her ear. Ginny's face flamed, and then she nodded and grinned.

    "What was that all about?" Harry asked, confused.

    "Don't worry about it, Harry." His mother said. "You'll find out soon enough." Harry never knew when he was missing his parents that his mother was the true prankster of the group. It made him very nervous, as he had realized that she was more devious then the Slytherin that she should have been sorted as. Finally, he stood in the center of the circle. He poured a gulp of potion down his throat. It tasted disgusting, but then, most potions tasted disgusting. He felt an odd tingling, and suddenly a sharp pain burst through him, and all his nerve endings felt like they were being rewired. He noticed that he was much lower to the ground, as well. He realized he was a bird, and took flight for a few moments. He opened his mouth to whoop with sheer joy, but instead a burst of spine tingling music came out. Startled, he popped back into human form and landed with a painful thump on the ground.

    "Was I what I think I was?" he asked, amazed. Everyone else nodded. Hermione looked a bit jealous, but shook it off. It would have been nice to know about this ability BEFORE people had hurt and bled and nearly died, but other then that, she though she could live with it.

    "Harry, you do realize how rare this is, right?" Remus asked gently.

    "No. I mean, everyone has a chance at being anything don't they?" Harry asked.

    "Harry, only a child born from two parents with founders blood can turn into a Phoenix," Hermione whispered, looking at him as she remembered. Harry looked at his parents.

    "I know about Dad's side, but what about yours?" he asked his mother, confused and shocked. How many other pieces of his family tree were going to bite him on the butt? Lily looked as shocked as Harry felt.

    "I don't know, Harry. I just don't know." James looked at his wife and son. "I think a trip to Dumbledore is in order as soon as we complete their transformations. Any objections?"

    The little group worked on the transformations for ten hours a day, every day. Everyone was so tired at night that it was all they could do to stay awake long enough to eat some supper and go to bed. It wasn't too surprising, then, that all thoughts of the rogue female werewolf were forgotten, and would stay that way until the next full moon.

    Durmstrang and Beauxbatons had both replied to Harry's letters, saying that no such girl attended their school. He was starting to feel very discouraged about ever locating Laurel, whoever she had come to be, but he still had to try. The next places he was checking were the Kookaburra Magical Comprehensive, in Australia, and the Maple Leaf Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry, in Canada. He knew that the British social services did not like to send any of their children outside the commonwealth. And since his aunt was a witch, it should make it easier to track her down- or so he hoped.

    After a week, everyone had to come and go every night and morning by floo powder. The Weasleys and the Grangers didn't like the idea of allowing their children to impose on the Potters so soon after their reunion, and besides, they only got a little time with their children now anyway.

    Finally, three days before the full moon, all the charms and potions had been taken, and they were ready to make the transformations. After putting up a camouflage shield around the house in case anyone saw Harry or Ginny, everyone once more met up on the front lawn.

    All four decided to transform at once, with an adult watching each. James took Harry, Sirius took Ron, Crimson took Hermione and Lily watched Ginny.

    "Now. Remember that the instincts are sometimes hard to control. Remember that you must concentrate on keeping your human minds. The nerve rewiring sometimes takes a few moments, so allow some orientation time before you go flying or exploring. Be careful, and don't leave the yard!" James was as nervous as any of the four about to attempt their first transformations. It was probably for the best he didn't know that Sirius was making exaggerated movements behind his back even as he spoke.

    With that final warning, all four teens disappeared. Harry flew up and perched in a nearby tree. Hermione rocketed up towards the sky, and enjoyed the feeling of the wind under her wings. Ron ran across the grass, reveling in his speed. Ginny went for a long gallop before taking off into the sky and circling overhead.

    "Long enough!" James called, and everyone reluctantly gathered back up on the lawn. Four popping noises were once again heard, and teenagers once again sat where the odd assortment of animals had sat.

    "You are now officially Animagi. You have to be careful about transforming. To tell the truth, I wasn't sure if all of you would be able to do it. Now that you have, you have to choose whether to stay unregistered, or go to the ministry and have them write you down. Sirius and I intend to go and register tomorrow. I'm sure you won't mind, though, if we ask you to leave a little early today. I believe we need to go see Dumbledore.

    Ginny, Hermione and Ron stood up, and dusted themselves off.

    "Can I go show my parents?" Hermione asked excitedly.

    "By all means, go! Show them what you've been up to this past month," laughed Lupin. He was tired, the full moon only days away again, but Hermione was enough to make anyone laugh.

    "I'll see you tomorrow!" she called, and disappeared into the fireplace.

    "I guess we'll take off too. Floo me?" Ginny asked, grinning up at her boyfriend.

    "You know I will," he smiled, and sent her off into the fireplace. Ron followed not far behind.

    Lily, James and Harry walked up to the castle from Hogsmeade. They needed to find out just what lineage Lily's squib mother had.

    As the three of them walked up the path, they had no clue as to the watchers from the village. Many of them remembered Lily and James from when they were students, and had seen Harry in the years since he started to visit the village. Seeing them walking as a family renewed the wizarding hope like nothing ever had. Dumbledore met them at the gate, and walked with them up to his office. Harry looked around in amazement at the school. Usually so bustling, it was dead quite except for various teachers setting up their rooms for the new terms, and going about business of their own. Harry chuckled at the look on Snape's face when he saw them and muttered something about 'like father, like son'. Lily gave a big smile and wave, making the stormy potions teacher turn bright red and hurry down the hall.

    "What was that all about?" Harry asked after he had disappeared around the bend.

    "He had a crush on me in school. I wanted to see if he still did." Lily said with a shrug.

    "You would think you would know by now, Mum! You have been working with him all year," Harry pointed out as he grinned at her.

    "I have, haven't I?" she said with a devilish smirk. Unable to contain himself anymore, James burst out laughing.

    "Your mother, I think, was trying to see if she could make him have an aneurysm. Or get him to explode in apoplexy," he reflected. "Which one was it this time, Lil?"

    Lily looked innocent. "Why must you cast heinous purposes to innocent actions?" she asked, trying to look hurt. Dumbledore looked at her with a twinkle in his eye, but said nothing. They were at his staircase.


	12. In Dumbledore's Office

_A/N- You know, I think i've left this story too long. Thanks so much to the two people who reviewed the last two chapters. You may have a long wait for another after this one. After all, if not too many people are interested, and I'm not as interested, it doesn't make much sense. If you want more, prove me wrong. Review._

After arriving once more in the circular office, Harry noted that nothing had changed since the last time he had been sent here by Professor Snape at the end of last term. The sword he pulled from the hat was still there, it's rubies glittering. Fawkes, obviously just after a burning day, sat on his perch. His small downy feathers were peach, and he hadn't started to molt them yet.

The headmaster sat at his desk, and regarded them over his half moon spectacles. "Now, what was it you needed to see me about?" He asked, all though he had the feeling that he already knew. He had, after all, given his approval on the Animagi training the four youths received.

"Harry, please transform." James looked at his son. Harry nodded, and with a POP, he appeared as a Phoenix. The baby Fawkes instantly preened, and Harry flew over to it. It snuggled into his warm feathers and fell asleep. James smiled. "All right?" Harry let out a trill, and James nodded. Dumbledore looked at the couple sitting before him. It didn't seem like it was that long since they had been students here. They still looked very much the same. Partially, of course, to spending almost half their lives frozen and waiting for their souls to be returned to their bodies. And that was what made him hesitate.

"Now, sir, could you please tell me why our son can transform into a Phoenix?" Lily was probing; trying to see if he was holding something back, and the old man knew it.

"Lily, I've told you to call me Albus. You are, after all, on my faculty." After a

brief nod that they both knew meant nothing, he sighed.

"I have been researching your family tree for some time now. After your extraordinary sacrifice and accomplishment, I thought that there might be something to it. Harry, by the way, isn't an ordinary Phoenix. Like Fawkes, he is a Gryffindor Phoenix. Lily is also a descendent of Godric Gryffindor. She, however, is NOT a descendent of any of the rest of the founders." While Lily attempted to process this new information, Harry, once sure that the baby Fawkes was asleep, flew down beside his parents and transformed once more into his slightly rumpled self.

"I see. So Lily descended from the bastard branch of the family, then?" James asked without thinking. Lily smacked him, he grunted, and then they both turned their attention on Dumbledore even as they kicked each other under the chairs. Harry was doing his best not to snicker at his parent's antics.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "No, not at all. You see, Helga died when they were both still rather young. Godric was married again, and his second wife had one child, a girl. It was believed that when she disappeared she remained childless. However, Lily's family tree shows that she did, indeed marry and have children. She married a Muggle, and the child they had was a squib. In fact, Lily is the first witch to be born of that line in over five hundred years. Her mother was the first woman in that line to have more then one child. You will notice that had she stopped at one child, there would again have been no children with magical blood," he explained as he looked at the family sitting in front of him.

"But if the oldest has always been a squib, then why am I magic?" Harry asked, confused and not a little worried.

"You, Harry, are not a half blood. Much as I hate to admit it, when you mix genetics of a Muggle with the genetics of a wizard or witch, you have a 1 in 4 chance of having non-magical children. While it seems the magical gene is dominant, there is still the chance of having two recessive genes, confirming a non-magical baby. You also have the Potter line backing you, and there has never been a squib born to them. The chances of you being a squib were remote." Dumbledore looked kindly at him. How much he had grown from the young boy who sat in front of the mirror of Erised, trying desperately to gain his parents. He could only hope that the reality is as wonderful as the dreams were. This family had given so much… and given him more then he could ever hope to repay, even if they didn't know it.

"James, Lily, could I speak with Harry for a moment?" Mystified, both nodded and left the room.

Harry looked curiously at his headmaster. What did he want?

"So, is it what you wanted?" Harry looked at him, trying to figure out what he meant.

"What, sir?" He asked, still attempting to puzzle it out.

Dumbledore smiled at him. "The mirror, Harry," he said with a benevolent smile on his face.

"Oh! Yes, professor, it is." The boy smiled up at him, and then started, as if he had just remembered something. "Professor, do you know how to track a missing witch?" he asked bluntly.

The benevolent expression vanished as if it had never been there. "Why do you ask, Harry? I assure you everyone you know is safe." The odd, piercing look he gave him made Harry feel like Dumbledore was sifting though his brain, leaving him feeling exposed.

"I want to find my Aunt Laurel for Lily- erm- I mean mum, and I want to make sure she knows that she has family. I want her to know she has somewhere to go if she needs it, and that if she wants to she can meet all of us," Harry said eloquently. He and Hermione had gone over this over and over again until she was convinced that he could deliver it correctly, and ensure that if Dumbledore could help, he would.

"Harry, Laurel Evans does not exist. She hasn't existed in many years. Whoever she is now, she's safer away from all of this. I think it's best to just leave the past alone, and if she wants to find you, she may activate the retroactive tracking charm your mother placed on her before she was given up. Leave it be." Dumbledore stared at Harry again, looking more serious then ever. Harry knew they would get no help from this quarter, and carefully nodded.

"Is that all you wished to ask me, Professor?" he asked formally as he stood up.

"Harry, I assure you this is for the best." Dumbledore answered instead. When clear green eyes just looked at him, he knew he was in trouble. "Go find your parents, and please, make no effort to contact her. It's too dangerous for anyone connected to you right now." Harry turned and wandered out of the room.

Dumbledore let out a sigh of relief as an owl swooped into his office, and a small smile twisted across his face as he recognized the parchment. He carefully slit the seal, and unrolled the parchment with light, even writing.

_Dear Grandpapa, _

_The full moon was thankfully uneventful, so you can stop worrying. I'm moved away from the area of the male werewolf you were so worried about last month, and am currently on my way to Hogwarts to visit. After all, you said you had news, and you know I can never wait for news! _

_My new wand is also working well. It's odd that I'm now using a unicorn hair instead of Dragon Heartstring like yours, but it seems to work better for me these days. I'm so much better at charms with it then I ever was before._

_Not going to tell you all the news now, since I'll be there in a couple of days anyway. And don't worry; of course I'm exercising CONSTANT VIGILANCE! (Honestly, you could give Uncle Mad-Eye a run for his money lately.) _

_-Me_


	13. Research

_A/N- So, I was looking at my story listings and i suddenly realized why I've gotten a couple of reviews on this story in the last month- people were looking at the date and missing the year, poor things thought I'd actually updated it. So, here it is, my loyal readers. One(short) chapter, one year in the making. I think my muse may have moved back from Bermuda. It may be another wait for the next chapter, but I promise it will not be over a year. A couple of weeks, perhaps. I want this story finished so I can concentrate on the book I'm writing. _

After arriving back at Poplar Bends, Harry went upstairs to his room and started to make a list of places and people who may know what was going on. Dumbledore obviously had an idea, or he wouldn't be so insistent that Harry left things well enough alone. Yes, things were still dangerous around him, but it wasn't as if Harry was going to be going up against Voldemort again. This time had thankfully ended it, and with no earthly body Voldemort was never returning from the Plains Of Misery.

He sent an owl off to Hermione and Ron, and figured on Floo calling Ginny once he knew that it wasn't going to be overheard by his parents.

He sighed. His parents. He loved them, and it was great that he had them back, but it was really difficult explaining the last fourteen years to them. He didn't really want to explain the Durselys house to them, and the first pain filled night he had them back really let them know what that was all about anyway. No, it was more the difficulty his parents were having accepting the fact that he was almost an adult, and had been through more then most adults before they ever came back into his life. He could treat them as friends, confidantes, but he was having a heck of a time remembering to call these people in his life 'mum' and 'dad'. As far as he was concerned, Mrs. Weasley and Sirius had filled those roles long enough that they were his parents. The ones he got back were a wonderful, mind-blowing bonus that he wouldn't trade for anything.

It was difficult for them, too, he knew, with the fact that they left a baby in the long ago days when they were as young as their bodies pretended to be. Crimson was lucky enough that the aging potion had frozen her true age, but Sirius and Remus both showed the ravages of the past years. His parents were still working through all they had missed, and he knew it was as frustrating for them as it was for him.

He wandered downstairs, finding his mum, Crimson and Aunt Petunia outside on lawn chairs watching as Sirius and his dad romped around in Animagi form. Remus was no where to be found.

"Lily?" Harry asked without thinking. As she turned, flinching, he changed his question. "I mean, Mum? Can I go back over to Ginny and Ron's?" Lily smiled at him. She knew he was trying. "Only for a few hours, supper will be ready soon." Harry pretended to cringe. "Maybe I'll stay over there, then!"

He ran into the living room, threw the floo powder in, and made it out to the Burrow before his mother could tackle him.

He arrived in a sooty heap on the neat floor, much like he always did. Ginny came running in at the sound of the floo, and she grinned as he picked himself up off the floor and dusted himself off. When he was mildly presentable, he opened his arms for a hug and Ginny quite happily threw herself into them.

Fred and George couldn't believe their eyes when they saw their baby sister in slighty sooty Harry's arms. They stood in the kitchen doorway stunned for a few moments before breaking into identical evil grins.

"Well now, it seems our ickle Gin-Gin has found herself a Boy-Who-Won't-Survive-Her-Older-Brothers."

Anything else they said was lost in the shrieking and dodging that went on as both their Ickle Gin-Gin and her Boy-Who-Trounced-Older-Brothers shot spells at them. The commotion drew Ron and Hermione out of Ron's room, and both were highly amused at the bats still flapping all over the twin's faces even as they wobbled around on dancing jelly-legs.

After Fred and George had been thoroughly trounced and left to wait for the spells to wear off, the four gathered at the Weasley kitchen table for Harry to fill the others in.

"I think Dumbledore knows something. What we need to do is find out what he knows." Hermione said determinedly.

"Yes, because forcing the most powerful wizard of our time into telling us about something he wants left alone is going to be so simple," Ron commented sarcastically, earning a whack across the head from his baby sister.

"We don't force him. We cajole. We plead. And while we're doing that to distract him, Harry can quietly research through genealogies and other magical documentation that Dumbledore won't be able to alter." Harry's eyes widened at the possibilities. Now they needed to track down the protected magical genealogies for a family that hasn't had a witch or wizard in for over a thousand years? This was going to be a very long search.

Crimson sat poring over the documentation Remus had sent her on the werewolf protection act, the werewolf registration office and all the other interesting facts she needed to attempt to identify the rogue wolf that was wandering around their forest. Their hadn't been any indication of her for three weeks, but with the full moon once again coming near they wanted to be able to prevent any incidents.

Lily and Petunia had been helping her for a while, but Petunia was starting to panic attack at the constant mention of werewolves and other 'unnatural' things. Lily had led her upstairs to calm her down. Crimson doubted she'd be seeing the older woman for a while, her fears were so imbedded it was going to take time to break her into the magical world.

She read over the document listing of last known occasions, ignoring the names on the sheet in favor of more pertinent information. Names weren't usually that helpful anyway, as most wolves either changed their names completely or went by an alias to the registration office.

Checking five different records, she wrote the locations down and then gathered everything up. The rest could wait until she checked these records out.

"Ok. We need to make a list of where these records can be found. If we have to go combing the country, it's going to get difficult, not to mention dangerous. Suggestions, people?" Hermione, not surprisingly, had designated herself official secretary.

"The hall of records. They have most of the pureblood genealogies, and only members of the families they belong to can open them without madness. Of course, with everyone so inbred, that means most of them can be opened by anyone. This one would probably be different." Ron was the first to throw out a suggestion, surprising Ginny. Apparently her older brother had decided that it was time to actually buckle down.

"Gringotts. It's a long shot, but if there's an unclaimed vault that traces in your mother's family name, we might be able to get access to it," Ginny advised Harry. The thought of going toe to toe with the goblins over an account to which they didn't have a key… well, that was mildly nerve wracking.

"Let's try the hall of records first. Ginny, Hermione and I all have flying animagi, so Ron can use my invisibility cloak and my firebolt. We should plan this trip. No one can know where we are." Harry was serious. Voldemort might be dead, but many of his supporters were still at large. Until they were rounded up, anyone who participated in the banishing spell might as well have a target painted on their backs.


	14. Ministry

_A/N- Thank you so much for all your support. I really have no focus on this story, which makes it quite difficult to update (as the sporadicness of the updates proves) I don't promise the next one will be soon, but I do promise it will happen. This one is short, but it's a thank you to the people who make my day a solid year since the last update. Standard disclaimer applies._

After several floo calls between the Weasley's and the Potter's, along with several more letters passing between Hermione and everyone else, they had a working plan. The trip to London would be a combined retreat, allowing them freedom from the adults without being too obvious.

Hermione had come across tickets to Les Miserables, and thinking it was strangely appropriate, convinced her parents to invite Harry, Ron and Ginny to join them to see the play and spend a 'few days enjoying the Muggle world' before they went back to their wizard laden lives.

Once they were safely in London, they managed to convince Hermione's parents they were going sightseeing, since Ron and Ginny had never seen most of Muggle London and Harry had only seen it from a car window. After arranging to meet back at the hotel before the supper and the show, the intrepid four made their way through the Leaky Cauldron and into the street.

"Well, Harry, which first? The Archives or Gringotts?" Hermione was a bit disgruntled at leaving the decision up to him. Ron had quite easily made it around her objections earlier.

"Hermione, it's Harry's aunt, Harry's mother, don't you think he might want a chance to search her out on his own?" Ron was calm and reasonable, and that was such a shock it actually made her sit back and listen to what he had to say.

"I'm thinking the Ministry is probably the best way to go, they might have a people search or something like there is in the Muggle world. Otherwise, we might have to head to the Muggle side to search out any women named Laurel the right age and then cross reference." Harry had obviously put a lot of thought into this, but he still looked to Ginny. "Sound all right to you?" he asked hopefully.

Ginny squeezed his hand, gave Hermione a look to quell all arguments, and led the way to the Ministry without a word.

None of them noticed as they walked in the slight, red haired woman that was slipping out of the werewolf registry as they presented their wands for checking.

After fruitless searching of the Ministry records, Ginny dragged the older trio out of the musty stacks of records and into the bright sushine of Diagon Alley. The four knew better then to be obvious, after all they were all still in some danger from the Death Eaters that had yet to be rounded up, but they still managed to sit and grab some ice cream.

"Harry, did you ever think this time last year things would turn out like this? Voldemort dead, your parents back, and getting into trouble cause we want to?" Ron, in his usual blunt style, asked the question they were all thinking.

Harry just shook his head. "If someone had told me about this last year, I would have gone nuts, thrown something at them and then had them committed to St. Mungos for observation because they were clearly delusional."

Ginny stroked his hair and smiled at him before taking her cone and swiping on Harry's nose. He looked at her wide eyed, the shock on his face so apparent that Ron and Hermione started to crack up. Ginny stopped him when he went to wipe it off, kissing the tip of his nose and licking off the ice cream.

When the other three just looked at her, she shrugged. "I saw it on the box that Hermione's parents like to watch. The fellyvison, or something."

Not quite knowing how to answer, Harry grinned at her before standing up and leaving some knuts as a tip on the table.

"We should probably get back to the hotel, I think the play starts at eight. Gringotts tomorrow ok with everyone?" After nods from everyone, they wandered back to the hotel, walking most of the way so they would have something to describe when the adults asked how the day went.

The rest, it seemed, would have to wait until the next day.

Dumbledore looked at the letters sitting on his desk, all intercepted enquiries looking for one Miss Laurell Evans, aunt to Harry Potter, sister to Petunia and Lily Evans. He had long since taken precautions with the girl. After all, if Voldemort ever got his hands on her… and it was handy that his charms also saved her from having to find out that she was adopted. He had ensured she was taken in and loved as a daughter, and he wasn't going to cost his honorary granddaughter that sense of self.

No, as far as he was concerned it was best if Laurell Evans stayed as a mysterious missing branch of the family tree. The only records of her new name and adress were in his office, and all letters to her or about her were automatically brought to him. That made it impossible to locate her unless, of course, he had given approval for the letter to sent.

It was a very good plan, and might have worked very well. Except in his plotting, Dumbledore had not calculated one small fact.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione had managed the impossible every year without a problem. Toss another very determined Weasley who also happened to be top of her class into the mix… and even the best laid plans of Lords and Headmasters would fall.


End file.
